Five rounds in the ashes.

Both players complete their Command Phases, each issuing up to two orders. Then each warband puts one activation token into the bag for every surviving formation. The first token comes out red: Jamie activates his Concord Fusiliers, moving them 6 inches to a broken barricade. Dave’s first blue token activates a squad of Awakened Exiles, who advance between the graves.

Jamie opens fire with a musket. The Exile has nowhere to hide. One shot, one casualty.

Dave returns fire at Jamie’s captain, but an Absolution Guard is still within 2 inches and visible to the shooter. Under Bodyguard’s Oath, the ordinary ranged hit must be assigned to a nearby retinue fighter instead. The guard fails its save and loses 2 of its 3 wounds.

At the start of the second round, the battlefield makes its own decision. The players roll a D20 for an environmental encounter.

The storm template appears at the board’s centre. A scatter die points east and a D6 shows 4, so the template drifts 4 inches towards the chapel.

Jamie fires through the charged air. His Fusilier rolls a 5 to hit, but the storm imposes −2 to Hit. The modified roll misses. Moving through the storm also costs 1 inch of Movement, and incoming shots suffer −2 Damage if fired into it from outside.

At the end of the round, Dave’s Exile and Jamie’s already wounded guard are inside the cloud. Both suffer 1 radiation wound. The Exile takes the damage, and Jamie’s guard, already badly injured, is removed. Ordinary armour does not protect against radiation exposure.

Jamie holds the chapel; Dave holds the eastern supply cache. Objective scoring begins.

The wind shifts. The storm travels another 3 inches west while the two forces attempt to outflank one another.

Dave’s surviving Resonant is an Elite, so it is allowed to use the Overcharge Field Gambit on its Veil Lance. A hit would add D6 damage. A miss is dangerous.

With its own manifestation turning against it, the Resonant staggers away from the altar. The backlash cannot be stopped by an armour save.

Elsewhere, Dave’s Sanctuary Defenders kill two of Jamie’s three Fusiliers. One remains. The chapel is contested, so neither player scores it this round. Dave still has the eastern cache.

Jamie's Confessor-Marshal charges Dave’s Sanctuary Marshal among the ruined pews. Instead of using his sword, Jamie declares his once-per-battle Rule of Cool: “He tears the bronze censer from its chain and swings it into the Marshal’s ribs.”

Both players agree the object is present, the character can reach it, and a successful improvised strike will use the captain’s usual melee damage plus the D20 bonus.

Dave has not used a Field Gambit this round. He declares Brace as a defensive response to the charge, granting a 5+ wound-negation roll against each incoming wound.

The Sanctuary Marshal survives with 6 of its 10 wounds. One spectacular attack almost ends the fight, and one well-timed Field Gambit keeps Dave in it.

Meanwhile, Jamie’s last Fusilier elects to retreat. The model moves its normal 6 inches towards Jamie’s deployment edge and cannot attack.

Dave’s Exiles surge towards the chapel. One fires a musket and rolls 2, a miss. Dave spends his Field Gambit for the round on Second Chance, rerolling the failed attack. This time he rolls 5 and hits. The shot wounds, Jamie fails his save, and another Concord fighter falls.

The last Fusilier makes the second move of its withdrawal, travelling up to twice normal Movement: 12 inches. The fighter reaches its own battlefield edge and escapes, taking its surviving equipment into the next campaign game.

After the battle, Jamie rolls a D6 for the surviving unit’s experience: 4, giving it 2 XP. Dave holds both the chapel and the eastern cache. Nobody manages to carry the central relic all the way home.